


Shed One's Skin

by extremelyperturbed



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Body Horror, Creature!Hannibal, Creature!Will, Drama, Dubious Consent, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-16
Updated: 2014-03-16
Packaged: 2018-01-15 22:26:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1321480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extremelyperturbed/pseuds/extremelyperturbed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to No Such Thing As Tame.  It's basically what happened to trainer Will after he was kidnapped by dragon!Hannibal.  It's an AU where mythical creatures exist and Hannibal is a shape-shifting dragon whose alternate shapes include being something like a lamia with a human torso and a proportionate snake tail.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shed One's Skin

Will opened his eyes and instantly regretted it. Feverish, sweaty and tired, he found himself lying on a large pile of furs in a windowless room carved out of stone, illuminated by several lamps. When he tried to get to his feet, he looked down and saw that instead of his legs, he had a scaly tail that reminded him of the one Hannibal had but shorter and thinner. He let out a scream. 

“Please calm down.”

Will turned to face the speaker and saw a naked man standing at the now open doorway. “Hannibal?” 

The man smiled. “It must be a shock to see me walk on two feet instead of using my tail. I know that you are concerned about your form but once you have completed your transformation, you will be capable of many forms, including human. I am proof of this.”

“Why me? There would be others who would probably welcome this.” Will briefly thought of Dolarhyde, who had broken into Hannibal‘s enclosure and attacked Will on Hannibal‘s command.

“Perhaps but he’s not the one I want. Not everybody has the strength of your mind to endure the demands of becoming.”

Will snapped, “Won’t you have only gained someone with your powers who’ll fight you to the death?”

“I’m hoping that a change of perspective and appreciation of the realization of your true potential might soften your present anger towards me.” 

“It won’t, so you better change me back.”

Hannibal looked surprised. “I never learned how to reverse the transformation. Why should I?”

Will snarled and tried to lunge towards Hannibal but only ended up falling on his face. He had no idea how to use his tail and it ended up acting like dead weight.

“I’ll be back with food and water for you. Please rest.”

***  
The next time Will opened his eyes, he found that he could use his tail to slither around the room. He saw the bowl of beef stew and a plastic bottle of water on a mat. Grudgingly, he ate the stew with the wooden spoon and drank some of the water before leaving the room. 

Outside the room, he saw three illuminated passageways. He slithered his way down to the right and in the distance, he saw a light. He slithered towards the light and when he got closer, he realized that it led outside. However, when he got to the opening, he saw that he couldn’t go out because it led to empty space. Will looked down and saw that if he had been too hasty, he would’ve fallen to his death because right underneath the entrance was a sheer drop that seemed to go for hundreds if not a thousand feet down. He looked around and saw that he was surrounded by mountains and forests with no sign of human habitation. 

Will turned and went down another passageway only to find another exit that ended the same way. Finally, he went down the only passage left and saw that it led to a caldera lake. It was a beautiful blue color and full of clear water. He looked at the wall of rock, ten stories tall, surrounding it and realized that only an experienced rock climber could scale them to the open sky above. He wondered briefly how Hannibal got in and out before realizing that he had created a place that only something capable of flight would be able to use. 

“Exploring?”

Will turned to see Hannibal standing near the entrance. “Escaping.”

“By now, you’ll have figured out that in order to leave, you’ll have to fly.”

“There’s always one other way of escaping,” said Will.

Hannibal frowned at that. “I don’t recommend it and it’s harder than you think. If you had tried to plummet to your death, there would’ve been an invisible barrier that would’ve kept you from going more than a few feet down from the entrance. Knives and fire are no longer able to harm you. No, Will, I will not have you die.”

***  
It was during the night that Will found his body the most disquieting. He could almost feel his internal organs shifting and growing; his cells’ DNA being twisted with new instructions and the neurons in his brain making new connections and associations. Strange, alien thoughts and desires coursed through him, making him thrash and cry out in his sleep. He would dream that he was drowning in living quicksand that not only tried to suck him down but plunge down his throat. He would dream that bits of his body were floating off and disappearing and that there was nothing he could do. “I’m dissolving,” he said to himself. 

Watching over him, Hannibal would wipe his face, back and chest with a soft moist towel while murmuring reassurances in a foreign tongue then towel him off with a dry one. He would put his cool hand on Will’s forehead to see how high his fever was before kissing his temple. 

It had been very disturbing when his genitals had disappeared from view as if absorbed by his body. Hannibal had told him that in his present form, they would be further down the tail and stored inside until needed. In their other forms, they would be in their appropriate place. Only slightly less disquieting was when his teeth had loosened then had to be spat out when they fell out of his gums, only to be replaced by sharp teeth meant to rend flesh. 

But what really depressed him was that he knew that nobody knew where to look for him and that by this time, everybody had probably given up on him. 

“I know that it has been very trying for you,” said Hannibal, caressing his face and hair. “But you have been very brave and it won’t be much longer.”

“How . . . long?”

Hannibal tilted his head as if mentally calculating. “By the end of this month.”

Will had noticed that there were scales on his arms. He had tried pulling them out but it had been resistant to any plucking. I don’t have much time left, he thought. I have to slow it down.

“Now that you’re up, it’s time for breakfast. I have eggs and steak for you as well as . . .”

“I’m not hungry.” 

“You must eat,” Hannibal said in a tone that was both authoritarian and full of concern.

Will shook his head. 

“I know that you’re fearful of change but acting petulant will not help things.” Hannibal transformed so his tail reappeared and his teeth became sharp. Hannibal launched himself at Will, knocked him over and quickly coiled his longer tail around Will’s. He held Will’s arms above his head. 

Will scowled at him. “No matter how long you hold me like this, I won’t eat.”

“Starvation will only put you into hibernation mode. Besides, I don’t need to hold you that long.” Hannibal began rubbing his tail against Will’s and a long forked tongue came out of his mouth and began licking Will’s face. He intertwined his fingers with Will’s and touched his chest to Will’s. Will could feel his breath on his cheek.

“What are you doing?” said Will before smelling something that made him feel giddy. He let himself relax against Hannibal and his mind drifted to thoughts of Hannibal actually being very attractive. Despite a nagging feeling that something was off, he couldn’t find it worth the effort to resist Hannibal licking his lips then kissing him. He entwined his tail with Hannibal’s and the friction of them rubbing together made him feel light and tingly all over. Near the tip of his tail, he felt something long and thick slip inside him. He was about to say something when he was distracted by Hannibal slipping his tongue and curling it around his tongue that was also now long and forked. Hours passed as they were entwined. 

When he woke up, he found himself utterly ravenous. Hannibal was holding a large platter of slices of medium rare steak and an omelet. Will wanted to knock it out of his hands but his hunger was too great. He could only satisfy himself by making a face at Hannibal as he took each bite and demanding to sleep alone afterwards. 

***

A week later, Will woke to find that his back not only felt as if it was on fire but had two long vertical bumps, one on each side of his spine. “It hurts,” he said. 

Hannibal examined them by softly touching and smelling them. “They’re your wings. They’re developing nicely. I will put something on them to ease the pain but I suggest that you sleep on your stomach until they emerge.”

“Will I be able to fly?”

“You should.”

“I’m afraid.”

“Think of it as a long journey. Where you are going, it is a place without fear.”

“Hannibal?”

“Yes?”

“What happened to the rest of the dragons?”

There was a pause before Hannibal answered. “Many were hunted by humans. The remaining few were ravaged by a plague. I was the only one of my family that was immune to the plague and I have also given this immunity to you. 

“With most of our species wiped out, many of our communities became inbred and suffered deformities and sterility and were wiped out as a result. Other communities become primitive and animalistic, going back to ancient mating rituals that demanded males fight to the death over mates even if that shrunk our numbers and genetic diversity further. I am a solitary beast but even so being the only one of a species has been an incredible burden. I have been working on a project to revive our species for the past three hundred years." 

Hannibal went out of the room then returned with a pale green salve. As his fingers smeared the salve on Will’s back, Will left a cooling and numbing sensation. “If I could have made this painless and fast for you, I would have done so. Your suffering was never the point. I will make this worth it for you.” 

***

“Hannibal? Hannibal?” said Will as he woke up. Usually, his call would get Hannibal to come. He must be out hunting for food, thought Will. He felt horribly hot and thirsty. 

Will slithered to the chamber where the caldera lake was and collapsed on its shores. Exhausted, he flopped on his belly and laid his head on his arms that were now scaly from the tips of his fingers to his shoulders. As much as his throat was dry, he was afraid to get closer to the water in case he saw his reflection. 

He was afraid that any further transformation would be a tipping point from which he could no longer come back. Even if what Hannibal had said was true about being able to again assume human shape once the transformation was complete, he would no longer be human in the one place that mattered most, his mind. 

Yet if he did not finish the transformation and remained stuck like this, there was too much likelihood that even if he got away, he would be stuck in the same enclosure Hannibal had been in. And that was one thing he refused to consider. 

Then he screamed as long black wings burst from his back.

***

Alana turned to Beverly, “Are you sure this is safe?” Beverly had suggested they go to Seattle together to save money. Once there, Beverly had talked her into taking a hike up Mount St. Helens, the volcano that had erupted in 1980, turning its peak into an enormous crater. 

“Why worry now when we’re half way up?” Beverly caught sight of something, crouched behind some rocks and hissed, “Get down!” 

Alana did what she said and was about to ask why when she looked up at the sky and saw two black dragons in the sky. Dragons were beautiful in their element but deadly as that was also where they looked down below for a meal. 

However, they did not seem in the mood for prey. They were lazily chasing each other around, riding the thermals to go up into the sky before slowly descending down to catch another thermal up. Eventually, they flew side by side, the tips of their wings inches from each other, towards the horizon. 

Once they were merely dots in the sky, the women stood up. 

“You OK?” said Beverly.

“It’s getting cold,” said Alana. “Let’s get out of here.”

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Snake sex is actually interesting. http://science.howstuffworks.com/zoology/reptiles-amphibians/snake5.htm 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG02b6KnigY The video shows two corn snakes breeding and the background music is actually pretty hilarious
> 
> http://listverse.com/2011/08/03/top-10-amazing-volcano-lakes/ Crater Lake is how I imagine the caldera lake to look like though not located at precisely the same place though Heaven Lake is also pretty. Some volcano lakes are toxic though.
> 
> Mount St. Helens is 96 miles south of Seattle. Hiking is allowed on it.
> 
> I really enjoy body horror. One of my favorite all time horror movies is Alien.


End file.
